Recognising individual achievement

Ben Barr Award

The ICE Wales Cymru Prize - also known as the Ben Barr Award - is given to an outstanding civil engineer who has just become professionally qualified.

It's open to civil engineers who passed their Professional Review in the year before the award is presented, and were living or working in Wales at the time.

The award goes to an engineer who showed exceptional qualities during their review. This might be their use of engineering principles, knowledge of construction, and in the design and construction of temporary or permanent works.

There are three categories - CEng MICE, IEng MICE and EngTech MICE. Candidates are nominated by their two reviewers and a winner is chosen from the shortlist.

The Ben Barr Award is named after a former chairman of ICE Wales Cymru and is sponsored by Symmons Madge Associates.

2017 winners

The winners of the Ben Barr Award 2017, announced at the ICE Wales Cymru Awards Dinner on Friday 17 June 2016 at the Marriott Hotel, Cardiff are:

Paterson Prize Award

The Paterson Prize is awarded to the candidate who produces the best written exercise in their Professional Review.

It's open to newly qualified candidates living or working in Wales, who sat the review at incorporated or chartered level in the year before the award is presented.

Reviewers nominate candidates who put together a well structured argument in a high standard of clear, concise English. A winner is then chosen from the shortlist.

The award was originally given for the best script in the Management and Public Administration (MPA) exam, which became the Public Sector Management (PSM) examination.

The prize is named after Colonel James Andrew Paterson who gave a donation to ICE for the best essay by a Welsh candidate at Professional Review.

Most recent winner

Philip Thiele, winner of the 2017 Paterson Prize

The winner of the Paterson Prize Award 2017, presented at the ICE Wales Cymru Awards Dinner on Friday 16 June 2017 at the Marriott Hotel, Cardiff is Philip Thiele for his Essay: Discuss the advantages and limitations of Civil Engineers becoming specialists in their chosen field. How can these limitations be addressed?

Communications Competition

The ICE Communications Competition gives young civil engineers the opportunity to develop and show their communications skills. The engineers had to explain and promote the benefits of an engineering scheme proposal at a mock public consultation, and compete for the Wales regional prize of £250. Regional winners then faced each other in the National Final for the £500 prize.

Please note: This competition is being replaced next year by Pitch 200.

2017 winners

Mott MacDonald, Cardiff won both the Wales heat and the national round of the Communications Competition

Mott MacDonald, Cardiff won both the Wales heat and the national round of the Communications Competition

Meet a former winner

2016 winners, Yorkshire & Humber team with judges

ICE Yorkshire & Humber team from Mott MacDonald won the 2016 Graduate and Student Communications Competition with their presentation on the Ballygrand City Arterial Route Upgrade. The chair of the judging panel, ICE Vice President, Zara Lamont, said: “It was a close call between the teams and the deciding factor came down to how well the teams answered the questions from the audience. ICE Yorkshire and Humber team did exceptionally well and answered all the questions in an empathic and professional way.”

Emerging Engineers Award

The Emerging Engineers Award celebrates the best research, innovation, and presentation skills among graduate and student members. Entrants produce a paper or essay on a topic related to civil engineering.

The competition is an excellent opportunity to improve written communication and verbal presentation skills, and perfect preparation for a viva or Professional Review.

2016 winners

First place

A stunning image showing a single civil engineer in orange coloured high visibility clothing suspended in the centre of an otherwise monochrome setting of the underneath of the Britannia Bridge in north Wales. It was taken by Robert, who works for Amey, with on Olympus OM-D E-M10 camera.

"New Rail Bridge" by Adrian Webster

Second place

A black and white image showing the installation of the new rail bridge at the appropriately named Bridge Street, Newport. Adrian used a Canon EOS 750D to capture the image.

"Cardiff Bay Bridge" by Greg Garson

Third place

A stunning image of the Bay captured from underneath the A4232 link road by Greg with his Samsung Galaxy A3 smartphone, proving that good photographs can be taken with phone cameras.

"Final Adjustments to Bridge St Bridge" by Chris Meaker

People's Favourite

This photograph of the new bridge at Newport stood out at the public exhibition and the judges decided to award it a People's Favourite Award. Chris captured this image with a Canon EOS 7D Mark II.

Devil's Bridge" by Mike Cronly.

Heritage Award

"The village of Devil's Bridge, near Aberystwyth in Ceredigion, is well known for its three bridges, built one on top of the other, and the cascading waterfalls of the River Mynach. Mike used a Canon PowerShot SX240 HS Devil's Bridge" by Mike Cronly

"Harlech Castle Visitor Centre Footbridge" by John Mather

Fairness, Inclusion & Respect Award

The "floating" visitor centre footbridge at Harlech Castle which provides flat access for all visitors making the Castle easily accessible to those with mobility issues. This image was taken with a Panasonic FZ38 Lumix Camera.

Want to find out more about civil engineering?

If you're interested in finding out more about civil engineering, from some of the biggest projects in the world to those going on around you, visit our 'What is civil engineering' section. You'll find out about major projects, meet civil engineers, see more of what's going on around you and find out more about how you can become a civil engineer.

Pitch 200

Pitch 200 is an engineering competition with a difference.

As one of the four core national activities for ICE 200, this competition is an opportunity to show the general public how civil engineers transform their lives directly in order to encourage the next generation into the profession.

Different to many of the other ICE competitions, Pitch 200 draws on engineers creativity to demonstrate a particular aspect of civil engineering to a public audience – and you only have 200 seconds to do it.

Members at every level have the opportunity to submit a presentation in the weirdest, wackiest and most unconventional way using anything at their disposal to explain your chosen idea.

Entering the Pitch 200 gives you a great chance to:

Promote civil engineering as an exciting industry to the public, your area of research/practice and the variety and diversity of jobs within the profession

Develop your skills and confidence in public speaking

Demonstrate your talent to the engineering community and peers

Become ICE Regional Ambassador for 2019 (providing a 'money can't buy' prize that greatly increases the profile and contacts of the winner).

Initial entries are a 60 second video summary of what your full presentation would be, and can be based on your own work, discipline or another aspect on civil engineering that fascinates you. It can be adapted from project reports, university/employment research papers or something entirely new.

Example:

Say my name is Isambard and I've been working on this interesting suspension bridge in Bristol. For my video, I could make a model of the bridge showing how it was constructed and the engineering behind it. This video would be 60 seconds long and would be sent with the form below to my local ICE regional team.

Once I'd sent it in, I'd wait to hear if I'd been shortlisted. If I am, I'll get the chance to produce a longer 200 second talk to be presented at the regional Pitch 200 heat. If I win the heat then I will go through to present at the finale at One Great George Street.

The regional winner will be shortlisted for the Pitch 200 Final where the overall ICE Ambassador for 2019 will be awarded.

The Wales Cyrmu region Pitch 200 is open to all current ICE members who live, work or study in Wales.

If we like the look of your 60 second video, you will be shortlisted and invited to come along to the regional Wales final to give a live presentation. This will take place on the 26th April at 5:30pm in Cardiff University.

Prizes for the Wales Cyrmu Regional Final

First prize: ICE Regional Ambassador for 2019

Further your civil engineering career

Looking to further your civil engineering career or want to get your career off the ground? Want to help solve issues around the world from connecting a remote village to solving the energy shortage? Then a career in civil engineering could be just for you. Find out what you will need to know to start your career or further your development in civil engineering, no matter what stage you're at.